Archives for January 2007

Early in January a cabinet shuffle in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper saw the post of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration change hands as a pair of ministers traded portfolios.

Coming from Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) to take charge at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is the Honourable Diane Finley. Heading in the other direction is the Honourable Monte Solberg who had been serving in the immigration role for 10 months. The moves were part of a larger cabinet reorganization which saw eight ministers take on new roles and the addition of five new junior positions in cabinet.

While the direct swap of portfolios between two ministers is rare in Canadian politics, the decision by Prime Minister Harper shows the shift to an increasing interaction between the two ministries. In keeping with the federal government’s mandate to facilitate the entry of foreign workers to Canada, Mr. Solberg and Ms. Finley’s knowledge of each other’s departments should allow for improved co-ordination between them. Over this past year, CIC and HRSDC have been cooperating extensively to create programs that improve the situation for both domestic employers and immigrant workers seeking permanent residency in Canada.

First elected to parliament in 2004, Ms. Finley is the Member of Parliament for the rural Ontario riding of Haldimand-Norfolk. She has held the HRSDC portfolio since February 2006. While sitting in opposition, Ms. Finley acted as the Official Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food.

The job of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has been something of a revolving door of late. Ms. Finley will be the fifth minister to take the post in the past four years. The last immigration minister to spend a good deal of time in the portfolio was Denis Coderre, who held the job from January 2002 to December 2003. With an election likely looming within the year, the post very well may change hands again.

What changes might we expect under new leadership at CIC? Nothing seismic is likely to be in the cards, however the new minister’s background gives some indication of her probable priorities. Bringing her experience from HRSDC to the table, Ms. Finley is expected to focus on programs to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers. Speaking to reporters shortly after the move to her new position, Finley addressed the recognition of credentials and experience for foreign-trained individuals. Along with her time at HRSDC, Ms. Finley also holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and has worked in both the public and private sectors.

Maple Leaf Foods is holding back its program at its Brandon, Manitoba plant to bring in workers from China, after it was revealed that 61 workers had paid fees of $10000 to the immigration consultant hired by the company.

Facing acute shortages of workers in Canada, Maple Leaf Foods has long recruited from abroad to fill human resource needs, particularly for its processing plants in Western Canada. Recent changes to the temporary foreign worker program have made the process easier for employers, particularly for high demand occupations. To help them find new recruits overseas, Maple Leaf Foods had hired an immigration consultant to find skilled workers in China. When it was discovered that the workers had paid large fees to this consultant, the consultant was fired.

Maple Leaf learned of the payments—equal to over 4 times the average annual salary in China—when several workers asked to move out of the housing arranged for them by the company. When they explained that the apartments were too costly, it emerged that they were struggling with heavy debts.

While it is illegal to pay to secure passage to Canada under the temporary foreign worker program, there is no indication this has occurred in this case. The workers received training in meat cutting and English as a second language in exchange for their payments, which helped them to secure employment. “What we’ve been able to learn is that these workers had responded to ads in China from a company that offers its services to people wanting to secure international employment” said George Rohulych of Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

The company has made it clear that the concern is not related to the performance of the employees. A spokesperson for Maple Leaf Foods stated that the 61 workers in question have been adjusting well to the community and doing well at work since arriving in Manitoba last spring.. Maple Leaf has already secured government approval to bring in 182 more temporary foreign workers this year, but they will be recruiting from outside of China until they can put to rest their concerns about workers taking on heavy debt.

According to a former chairman of the organization, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is being hampered significantly by a high number of vacancies. There are currently 41 vacancies on the 156 member board.

The IRB is an independent administrative tribunal responsible with providing judgements on immigration cases. The bulk of the IRB’s work deals with assessing the merits of the applications of refugee claimants. Members of the board are not hired directly but are instead appointed by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration following a screening process. The applicants for jobs on the IRB go through a merit-based evaluation system and if successful, they enter a pool of candidates from which the government may choose.

Peter Showler, who served as Chairman of the IRB between 1999 and 2002 stressed a concern about the high number of vacancies in the Refugee Protection Division of the IRB. Showler suggested that the increased pressure on existing members of the board increases each member’s caseload, impeding their work in either the speed or quality of their judgements. Current IRB chairman Jean-Guy Fleury has also stated that the vacancies are causing a slowdown in processing time. Speaking in front of a parliamentary committee, Mr. Fleury lamented that without enough employees, he would not be able to fulfill his goals for the organization in improving processing times.

The IRB was responsible for processing 22 000 refugee claims in 2006. Processing times currently sit at an average of 11 months, lagging behind a stated goal of 6 months.

As we set our sights on the year ahead, both federal and provincial officials are announcing that in 2006 the number of people coming to Canada reached an all-time high.

Canada accepted 262 000 permanent residents and refugees in the past year, and thousands more temporary foreign workers. Immigration officials expect these numbers to continue to rise above the new record highs.

More than half of the new immigrants to Canada settled in Ontario. 140 000 new permanent residents settled in the province in 2006. Rick Byun, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration said his province welcomed the influx. The success of newcomers will be Ontario’s success,” Byun said. “We have to have that labour force.”

Some 150 years ago Charles Darwin coined the term “natural selection” in his book entitled “The Origin of Species”.

Simply put, the theory of natural selection can be described as a biological process, by which individual organisms with favorable traits (characteristics) are more likely to survive and reproduce (succeed) than those with unfavorable traits.

While some creationists argue that “intelligent cause” offers a better explanation for who we have become, there can be little doubt that Darwin’s theory holds true for the Canadian immigration process.